Posted on 07/08/2016 1:04:15 PM PDT by NRx
Few people understand loss better than David Brown, the Dallas police chief who stood before television cameras Friday morning and said, “We are heartbroken.”
Even before five police officers were killed Thursday at the site of a Black Lives Matter protest where seven other people were wounded, Brown had become intimate with loss, pummeled by it again and again in his career and personal life.
Before this week, violence had already taken from him a former partner, a brother, a son.
When Brown was named police chief in 2010, he entered the position with a reputation of being an intense and introspective leader, according to a Dallas Morning News profile, which quoted him as telling a friend, “You know I’m a loner, man.” But if he was a quiet force, his personal pain was very public — and would become even more so after the son who bore his name killed a police officer and another man before being fatally shot more than a dozen times.
At the time, in June 2010, Brown was only seven weeks into his new position as chief and again spoke of heartache, this time in a statement to his own officers.
“The past few days have been very troubling and emotional for all of us,” he told his 3,600-member department, according to an article by the Guardian. “My family has not only lost a son, but a fellow police officer and a private citizen lost their lives at the hands of our son. That hurts so deeply I cannot adequately express the sadness I feel inside my heart.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I come from a nuclear family. Civil servant Dad, homemaker Mom, upstanding citizens, involved in church and community ...and yet. My eldest brother chose to do and sell drugs (went to jail). They were good parents and my brother chose to walk on the dark side. Thank goodness he overcame the clutches of his habit, got married, got a good paying honest profession, owns his own local business {legal}. sometimes the kid walks a path that does not agree with their upbringing.
I think Chief Brown is a good man, with a difficult job, in difficult times. We need to keep him in our prayers.
So he should have slunk away and buried his mentally ill son in the backyard. How do you know that his intention was to “honor” those horrible actions?
He should have had the decency to have a private memorial service for family and close friends. He was entitled to mourn the loss of his son, even if the the boy was a reprobate. He wasn't entitled to make a spectacle of it.
Perhaps what you think is a spectacle, was not for his family.
It’s mighty rare when a dead cop killer gets an escort by on-duty cops from the funeral to the grave site, with entrance ramps and whole expressways being blocked off like it is a presidential motorcade.
Sorry, just noticed your post to me. June, 2010. He killed a cop and an innocent bystander on Father’s Day, 2010. The massive, police escorted funeral procession was later that month. One of the Chief’s underlings provided ‘plausible deniability’ for the Chief.
That must be pretty rare. But it is probably very rare when a cop’s own child kills one of his own. Imagine the pain that Chief Brown was going through at the time and probably still has to this day, to think that his own son did this. If you are still this emotional about it, imagine Chief David Brown’s level of emotion. I admire his strength at this terrible time. And I pray for Dallas and for law enforcement everywhere.
Yes, so true. I don't know much of him, but the bits I hear now show him being reasonable and careful. That verse "for such a time as this" comes to mind.
Such people are an answer to our prayers for God to raise up good decent - not perfect! - people, now above all times so sorely needed.
Amen
The dead cop was from a suburban department.
As far as mentally ill - well, loading up on PCP will make folks act crazy.
Well, if you like racial bias against whites, retaliation against whistle blowers, and toleration of sexual harassment, he's your man.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/best-southwest/headlines/20140523-dallas-police-chief-david-brown-calls-training-controversy-a-hot-mess.ece
The dead cop was from a suburban department.
Even if the policeman was from a suburban department, he’s a cop too. Isn’t that still one of Chief Brown’s “own”? He’s a cop too, right?
What’s your angle, PAR35, that you are still so mad about this boy’s funeral?
I guess when you have lived a perfect life like yourself and serve your community the way you undoubtedly do— you are allowed to judge the lives of others.
Brown should have been fired that day. If he had been white, he would have been. But he plays ball with the Citizen’s Council and they tolerate his shortcomings.
they tolerate his shortcomings.
Ah, but you don’t PAR35. Brown is still in charge apparently. And you are, apparently, in law enforcement. So I will continue to pray for your safety. God bless you for what you do for the citizens and give up bitterness and anger. They are like weeds in a garden.
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